Naidu to raise special status issue with PM again

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has said Union Minister of State for Home H.P. Chaudhary’s statement in the Rajya Sabha on Friday that Andhra Pradesh does not need Special Category Status, was not correct. He said he would address a letter to the Prime Minister again.

“The Centre needs to be generous towards A.P., which recorded the lowest per capita income among southern States and must help us till we are on a par with other developed States. There is no compromise with the Centre on the State Reorganisation Act,” Mr. Naidu said while addressing a workshop at Andhra University Convocation Theatre here on Saturday.

“The Centre must be aware of the injustice done to A.P. and I am putting a lot of pressure on the Centre and will write to the Prime Minister again, ” he said.

The Chief Minister charged the YSR Congress and the Congress with putting hurdles to the State’s development by finding fault with every irrigation project, construction of capital Amaravati, Bhogapuram international airport and other projects. But the two parties do not find the time to pull up the Centre to give the State more funds or water. Some leaders go to Delhi for their selfish ends. In sharp contrast, he had visited Delhi as many as 30 times till date to seek the State’s due and he would not give up until the Centre kept its commitments.

The Polavaram project would be completed by 2018, he asserted and said he was in touch with Union Minister Uma Bharti on the issue. Mr. Naidu the State had received only Rs. 2,800 crore out of the Rs. 16,000-crore deficit